Waking in a Dream
by laureas
Summary: Right before the battle of Endor, Vader is given a 'kick in the pants' in a dream/nightmare from beyond the grave. Finally Re-Edited


_**Summery: Right before the battle of Endor, Vader is given a 'kick in the pants' in a dream/nightmare from beyond the grave.**_

_**I expected to get this written and published a month ago but I guess the Dark Side had other plans. *snorts* Lost the work in a reformat so I had to rebuild it from my notes. Thank goodness for my father teaching me how to do that. This one-shot is dedicated to him and his memory. Thanks Papa Bear, I miss you…**_

Disclaimer : Don't own Star Wars.. I just write for fun.

**Waking in a Dream**

**^thinking^**

***Force-speech - i.e. telepathy***

For many years now, the Dark Lord of the Sith know as Darth Vader had not known one night of meaningful sleep. Indeed, if a nightmare of the horrible events that lead him into becoming the monstrous cyborg the Galaxy fear didn't plague him, the pain of his old unhealed wounds kept him from getting anything close to a normal night of rest. At the moment, it seemed like the last 23 years of his horrid existence was the nightmare, and he was waking up to the sun shining in his eyes. He kept them shut as he used his other senses to get his bearings. Unlike usual, he was at peace and was in no hurry to complete the process. He noted the scent of grass and flowers and the sounds of a small waterfall sang in his ears. Then he stretch out with the Force, looking to see if he was by himself. He sensed a presence that he hadn't since that hideous moment the mask slipped over his face for the first time. She was over by the waterfall, treating some stains on her blouse. He sensed her irritation and then…^Men and their toys. He had to come charging in from playing with the speeder. Ugh!^

Vader sat bolt upright, his eyes narrow. He had always been able to sense Padme's feelings but never her thoughts as he would have another Force sensitive. And these had been projected. That was not Padme, he convinced himself and he would make whoever was torturing him with her memory pay dearly. But for now he would play along. The being that had taken Padme's shape now came back from the waterfall. He looked around quickly before 'it' joined him and confirmed that he was in the same meadow that he and Padme 'honeymooned' in. 'It' he noticed was no longer projecting irritation but a sense of pleasure that he was 'awake'.

"Did you have a good nap, Ani?" 'it' asked. In 'her' voice Vader slowly nodded, not trusting himself to speak at that moment. She, no 'it', (as he kept reminding himself) sank down next to him and put 'it's' head on his chest. "That was so silly. I can't believe I'd be so upset with grease stains. I guess I was just trying to 'feel' normal," Vader looked down at 'her' wondering what to say. He noted with disgust that he had already put his arms around 'it'. He also noted that 'she' seemed 'upset'? "What's wrong, Angel?" he managed to ask, actually believing at that moment that he was talking to his beloved. She looked up at him with eyes full of trust, and heartbreak. "Why Ani? How could you cut Luke's hand off?

Any thought of being with his angel shattered in that moment. Vader leapt to his feet shoving the being that dared to take his wife form away violently. His eyes seemed to glow a sickly yellow as he raised his fist. "How dare you!: he screamed at the choking 'woman' in front of him. He tighten his fist and the choking noises increased. "Take your true form, blast you!" he growled. But 'it' did not. He increased the pressure beyond anything any human could possibly take and still it looked at him beseechingly as it choked, with Padme's eyes. He was so engrossed in forcing this 'thing' into it's true form that he failed to notice that the meadow was gone and that the sky had darkened until too late.

"I tried, Ani. I didn't want this to happen. But you wouldn't even give me a chance," Padme's voice echoed in his head as he recognized the tortured skyline of Mustafar. As soon as he had, the pain came back doubled. He found himself on his hands and knees as Darth Vader instead of his former body. But his chest armor was missing along with the controls to his respirator. He could feel the heat of the lava on the scarred flesh and tried to get up, only to land face first in the ash. Gasping he managed to get back to his hands an knees. His mask was gone too and he could barely get enough air to stay conscious. Not to mention that the lava flow was slowly growing towards him, adding to his terror. But he realized he was no longer alone. People were walking around as if he was right in the middle of a crowd of Corusant. But they didn't notice him or if they did laughed and moved on.

Padme gazed sadly around the meadow. She sat by the waterfall and watched the glowing blue fog obscure the meadow's features. Her form seemed also to shimmer with the blue glow. "Do you still think there is good in him?" asked a disembodied voice from the direction of the meadow's center. "I know there is , Obi-Wan," Padme stated firmly. She watched as the 'Negotiator' seemed to materialize out of the fog.

Obi-Wan Kenobi looked to her eyes exactly as he did at the end of the 'Clone Wars' with ginger colored hair and beard shading to grey. As Obi-Wan joined Padme, she continued, "I knew it was going to come to this. He's still so stubborn." "It seems to be a Skywalker trait, but I don't see that this is g to help bring Anakin back from the Dark Side," Obi-Wan said doubtfully. "Luke believes in him," Padme said softly, unable to help the tears flowing. "Yes and he's already paid a price for confronting Vader," Obi-Wan said with a sigh. He began stroking his beard in a thoughtful gesture as he thought of how he had just left Luke at Dagobah.

Padme was about to continue arguing, but stopped as a new voice and figure entered the discussion. "Allow the Force to work It's will, my former Padawan. I think you'll find that Padme was right all along," Qui-Gon Jinn said as he joined them. Padme nodded to the Jedi Knight as he looked out on the scene. As one in-tune with the Living Force, he was able to track the progress of the 'Chosen One' as he dreamed. It was also extremely uncomfortable as Vader's terror, pain, and self-loathing seemed to darken the very air.

"The Dark Side is fighting hard to keep him. It would be impossible to continue this fight if Sidious was already aware of the Force-vision," Qui-Gon said after a few minutes. "So it's a race to see whether Sidious or Luke notices him first?" Kenobi asked. "Yes, if Sidious senses the 'dream' first, then he'll pull Vader out of it, in order to mock him and add fuel to his anger. But if Luke feels his father's suffering first, he will have a chance to show Anakin his feelings away from the Dark Side's influence."

At that Padme chuckled quietly. "I doubt Palpatine will be able to concentrate on anyone but himself for a while," she airily informed to two Jedi. Obi-Wan glanced at her warily. "What did you do, Padme?" Qui-Gon asked. Padme gave the two slight smile and said, "who, me? I was never trained to do anything with the Force," Qui-Gon just smiled as Obi-Wan looked at her in exasperation. "I believe it's a case of 'not knowing something is impossible'. And since Anakin is her best example..," Qui-Gon trailed off, then turned back to his 'after-life Padawan'.

Padme sighed then said, "I merely asked the Force to keep Palpatine busy for a little while, just so Luke had a decent chance. It seems that he ate a poorly prepared supper. He's probably regretting it in the refresher right now." Both of the Jedi Knights looked at her then at each other. Obi-Wan shook his head while Qui-Gon chuckled. "Then there is a chance indeed," Qui-Gon stated.

Vader watched in growing horror as the lava slowly flowed toward him. He was alone again on the bank that Obi-Wan stood on while he burned below him. His breath came in shallow pants and his vision had narrowed to a few feet. It seemed he was going to finally finish being immolated by the flames, for he knew that the Emperor was unaware of his predicament. And no one who seemed to come before this had even seemed to care. Indeed they had taken a savage delight in the Dark Lord's plight. In fact a couple of the beings had gone so far as to kick him down and he had slid a foot down the embankment. When he had been able to scrabble back up, he collapsed, barely able to keep his face out of the ash.

He suddenly felt a being near him and managed to raise himself up, finally bracing himself on his elbows. Unable to who it was thru the Force he gathered his strength from the struggle and slowly turned his head. Squinting into the direction of the newcomer, he finally recognized the young man who was there now with him. It was his son, and Luke's reaction was one of fear and loathing. Not that Vader could see it, but felt it through the Force. He sensed that Luke was drawing back and turning to flee. "Luke….help…me….please," Vader managed to gasp as his strength gave out and his face landed in the ash. It seemed to him that the lava exploded in fury to claim him. And he was ready to give up in that moment, certain that once again his son had rejected him.

Luke had fallen asleep on Dagobah exhausted after confronting Ben Kenobi about the 'convenient' white lie that the old Jedi had fed him about his father. He certainly didn't expect to land in a fiery hell with a being that scared the tar out of him. What ever it was, it gave off such a wave of negativity in the Force that Luke recoiled in defense. It was only as his brain finally registered that the entity in question had called his name, that Luke realized that this was his father, stripped of part of the armor that hid his heinous injuries, but also kept him alive.

Luke was moving forward down the embankment where his father lay before he fully realized what the situation was. His father's terror was real and whipped the Force into a storm. But there was also despair and defeat, which puzzled the younger Skywalker. Luke's own feelings were quickly morphing into anger and disgust, along with a fierce desire to stop this! What ever the reality of the situation, it was crystal clear to Luke that Vader was suffering as bad as if he was in a torture chamber, or worse.

The ash was thickest at the top, and seemed to give a solid surface to scramble down. But even one used to the surface of Tatoonie with it's shifting sands could not properly judge the balance needed in the ash. Not without the Force, and Luke held back from using his abilities, knowing full well that he'd be asking for trouble if he did use the Force. For the Dark Side danced at his conscious, tempting him with promises of power to punish those responsible for this madness. Not surprisingly, Luke lost his own balance and face-planted right in front of the hissing lava. He barely managed to get his own head up before the lava curled over his prosthetic hand. Which hurt! Now he was the one in serious trouble as he wouldn't even be able to get to his feet before the lava overwhelmed him.

When the terror of his situation seemed to intensify suddenly, Vader thought it was his own sense of survival that was kicking in, and was quite simply ready to ignore it. When the pain started however, the cry though the Force was unmistakable, as Vader had heard it on and off for the last six months. Every time Luke had dreamed of the meeting at Bespin. Vader shoved himself up, and looked down at the molten river. There was someone laying in the same spot where he'd been after Kenobi took his limbs. Facing the molten stream with his hand already on fire was, "LUKE!"

The next few moments seemed to be a blur of pain and fear for his son. That and reaching for the Force, denying the Dark Side when he sensed that it was actually pushing his son away towards flaming destruction. When he finally was certain of what was going on, he found that he was breathing almost as easily as if he'd had his mask on. The pain was gone as well and he was looking down from a high cliff on the molten scene below. The next thing that the Dark Lord was aware of was that his head was resting against his son's shoulder and that Luke was leaning back into a break in the rocky wall. His eyes were closed and his face was grey with exhaustion, so much so that Vader was concerned. It also appeared that other then some stiff muscles, Vader had come out fine. He sat up slowly flipping his sweat-soaked bangs out of his eyes.

^Wait a minute…Bangs? What the Sith-spit is going on here?^ Anakin thought as he looked down at himself. Yes and the name was appropriate, even if he woke up in that instant. Still he hoped that Luke would at least see who he'd been before that happened. ^I doubt he'll every be able to see me like this again,^ Anakin thought a little sadly. ^At least this blasted planet isn't likely to nag me or my Dark Side with nightmares anymore.^ He looked back at his son, frowning slightly. *I'm just glad you're alright,* Luke's voice whispered into his mind. Anakin was finally able to see that Luke had inherited his eyes as well. Luke looked up and stared at his father in astonishment. *What…? Father, is that you?* he asked as is he couldn't trust his senses. Anakin nodded, a wry twist to his lips as he gazed around at the scene that had etched itself into his memories.

*This is who I use to be, Son. Though I don't think I'm going to remember this part. Or rather the Sith in me won't… *Anakin said and sighed. *Luke, listen to me and try to remember this when you wake. Obi-Wan was right, until now. I might as well have been dead. But now..,* *You have something to fight for,* Luke finished for him. Anakin smiled down at Luke and extended a hand, the same one he'd lost in his first battle with Dooku all those years ago. Luke cocked his head to one side and stared at it for a moment before grabbing the prosthesis with his own. Not content to get his son to his feet, Anakin pull the younger, and obviously shorter Luke into a bear hug.

Vader opened his eyes as his mask slipped into place. He felt refreshed and the old aches were a minor problem rather then the usual fuel for his anger He'd actually slept, and..

The stiff scars of his face managed to twist into something that might have been a small smile. Luke had accepted the truth at last. Soon he'd come to his father and they would finish what Vader had set In motion all those years ago at Musafar.

Luke woke with a start, the dream vividly in his mind. He also remembered the whole thing including the fact that his father, as Vader, in a position that was more vulnerable then he'd been in a long time, had faced his darkest fear in order to save his son. And Luke would not forget it.

**Hope ya like**

**Review please **

**I got to get my Wars muses {Anakin, Luke, and Ashoka} to stop pranking me… ~knock it off guys!~ **

**laureas**


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